Swig into beer festival season
Jul 23 2010 by Alistair Gilmour, The Journal
THREE years ago, Hawkshead Brewery owner Alex Brodie conducted a little experiment. At his first-ever beer festival, he counted heads. Then he counted ladies’ heads. He was so excited he got someone else to count, too.
Both results confirmed that the business plan was not only performing as predicted, but the massive investment in premises, plant and people at the Lake District site was beginning to pay off.
Of the 100 or so visitors in the custom-made beer hall, 50 were women – exactly what the former BBC foreign correspondent and World Service anchorman had in mind when he expanded out of a former milking parlour into a significant beer business.
“Right from the start I wanted this to be a place where people could be comfortable and could bring their families,” he says.
The original beer hall acts as a visitor centre, dining room, brewery tap and beer shop and now it has been joined by a pub, with further dining and sitting areas designed shamelessly to attract tourists. Festivals and national beer competitions were in the original script and have now become regular features, helping enormously with consumer awareness. They also keep tills rolling.
Hawkshead’s summer beer festival number four is already one day into a weekend-long celebration of all that’s good about ale – it runs until Sunday at Mill Yard, Staveley, near Kendal in Cumbria. But, is a beer festival simply another way of getting customers to part with their money? Do they have a purpose other than allowing aficionados to “tick” another ale? Do they create an interest? Do they satisfy a need?
With beer festivals taking place over the next few days from Byker to Birtley in pubs, marquees and rugby clubs (further afield, there’s the 30th annual Farson’s Beer Festival in Malta this weekend, the Berlin Beer Festival in a fortnight) it may be opportune to ask what makes a good one.
“You’ve got to have a good breadth of beer styles,” says Stacy O’Brian from the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) distribution arm, Direct Delivery Scheme. “You’ve got to have the right venue, then people create the atmosphere.”
Venue, choice and atmosphere – is that the trick? It’s certainly something that Kevin Mitchell of brewing products firm Murphy & Sons is in agreement with.
“You’ve got to have an offer,” he says. “If you stood two pubs side by side and if you didn’t know what beer they sold but one was half-timbered with hanging baskets and the other not, you’d go to that one first, wouldn’t you?
“There’s a beer festival held in the grounds of Nottingham Castle, a very attractive venue – previously they used a disused swimming pool in the old Lace Market. There’s no comparison. Then it’s the people who create the atmosphere.”
The people attending can also have a say in what is being served. That’s the message from the Cumberland Arms Summer Ale & Cider Festival, which takes place tomorrow and Sunday at the Byker, Newcastle, pub. A few weeks ago manager Carl Kennedy sent out a “punters’ choice” invitation that asked for suggestions via email, Twitter, Facebook and an old-fashioned box on the bar.
“Our summer festival is always a great event,” says Carl. “Over the last few years we concentrated on organic ales, but because of the limited choice available – we don’t want all the same beers every year – and the expensive nature of organic produce, we have moved away from that.
“Last year’s choices attempted to find an A to Z of ales, but this year we got our valued customers to tell us what they’d enjoy most.”
Carl’s regulars have suggested 36 ales and 36 ciders for the festival, including Copper Dragon Golden Pippin, Durham Orangutang, Fyne Ales Avalanche and the mighty Thornbridge Kipling.
We shouldn’t forget the nation’s “biggy”, though. The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), is counting down the days until its premier event, the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court, London, which kicks off on Tuesday, August 3 (www.camra. org.uk).
Last year 64,000 people attended the festival – billed as “the world’s biggest pub” – over its five days, sampling more than 500 different ales, ciders and perries, and this year expects to be no different.
The nation’s most prestigious real ale award, the Champion Beer of Britain finals, takes place on the opening day, which always creates an air of expectancy. A sense of surprise is vital for a beer festival’s success.
“There’s a real excitement surrounding the festival this year,” says Camra chief executive Mike Benner. “Many new breweries have opened up across the UK in the past 12 months and more consumers are discovering the infinite amount of variety in the real ale industry at present.”
Winners are also at Hawkshead’s festival, which features gold medallists from SIBA’s regional beer competitions.
“We started the festival so people could drink the entries,” says Alex Brodie. First it was location, location, location, then education, education, education – but all can be applied to beer festivals.
They don’t exist in isolation, they’re a developing part of our culture and have become a vital component in the brewer’s toolkit – but they must be all-inclusive.
Alex Brodie says: “I’m at risk of being tedious with the message, but I always say ‘do you realise how much of a revolution is taking place?’
“What we’re offering at Hawkshead is not a draughty room with casks and pipes all over the place; it’s a purpose-built beer hall.” Mind, a beer festival in a swimming pool is a compelling thought.
More consumers are discovering the infinite amount of variety in the real ale industry
The Barley Mow, Birtley, Gateshead, presents its second summer festival of music and beer – featuring Yorkshire ales – from Thursday August 5 until Monday, August 9. Tel: 0191 410 4504.
A charity fun day with proceeds going to the Great North Air Ambulance and Butterwick Hospice takes place at the Green Tree, Howden-le-Wear, County Durham, on Saturday, August 7. The pub’s beer festival from Thursday, August 26 to Sunday 29 will have 20 local real ales. www.thegreentreehotel.co.uk
Blaydon Beer Festival runs between August 13 and 15 at Blaydon Rugby Club. Up to 50 beers and 10 ciders are promised, including live entertainment with pub games, music, food and beer tastings. www.blaydonbeerfestival.co.uk
Shotley Bridge Cricket Club’s third annual beer festival runs over the August Bank Holiday (August 27 to 29). More than 40 beers and ciders are scheduled. www.shotleybeerfestival.co.uk
